Lack of backing for small businesses highlighted

A LACK of support for small businesses in the Budget concerned Matt Risdale, but he welcomed the Government’s investment in the trans-Pennine rail route.

Mr Risdale set up in business less than a year ago, and said the Chancellor’s headline announcements on personal tax allowances concealed other details which could cost small firms in the long run.

The 34-year-old, who runs Cannon Public Relations in Rotherham, added: “It’s not a budget for business, it’s a budget for big business. There is no emphasis on developing skills in young people.

“Instead, the Chancellor seems to be encouraging young people who are already saddled with student debt to take on enterprise loans, which they are supposed to use to set up firms.

“It’s impossible to get any funding from the banks – it was savings that kept me going through the first few months.

“But now my business is based on cash not debt and encouraging people to take on more debt is worrying.

“It seems to be repeating what went wrong in the public sector, which the Chancellor says has been living beyond its means, in the private sector.”

Mr Ridsdale said he was also interested in how the Government’s plans for Enterprise Zones would work.

He said: “It will be interesting to see how the benefits being offered under Enterprise Zones will be delivered. They need to be focused on new business and start-up businesses as well as bigger firms.”